[MD] Creative Freedom in Jazz

[david buchanan]

David H said:
There is value in this distinction dmb.  However, as you'll agree they are both a static quality cultural distinction.

dmb says:
I don't think that is a valid criticism because all distinctions are static quality cultural distinctions. More specifically, the distinction is being offered as a way to think about the balance between the Dynamic quality of freedom and the static quality of order in the MOQ. I'm just using a political notion to illustrate the relations between freedom and order in general and particularly with respect to intellectual quality.
Here's the quote which I used as evidence for the notion that we cannot do without static patterns, that static patterns are part of the recipe for freedom. 

"'Zen monks' daily life is nothing but on ritual after another. Hour after hour, day after day, all his life. They don't tell him to shatter those static patterns to discover the unwritten Dharma, they want him to get those patterns perfect. The explanation for this contradiction is the belief that you do not free yourself from static patterns by fighting them with other contrary static patterns. That is sometimes called 'bad karma chasing its tail.' You free yourself from static patterns by putting them to sleep. That is, you MASTER them with such proficiency that they become an unconscious part of your nature. You get so used to them you completely forget them and they are gone. There in the center of the most monotonous boredom of static ritualistic patterns the Dynamic freedom is found."


David H said:
This quote is about mastery not about the dangers of 'killing' static patterns.  In fact, I read it that this quote is about actually killing them..  Killing doesn't mean devaluing though.  It means 'getting so used to them you completely forget them and they're gone'.  This is what Pirsig means where he writes the following: ... While sustaining biological and social patterns Kill all intellectual patterns. Kill them completely And then follow Dynamic Quality And morality will be served."  Now how do we 'kill' intellectual patterns? .. we kill them by "mastering them with such proficiency that they become an unconscious part of your nature. You get so used to them you completely forget them and they are gone. There in the center of the most monotonous boredom of static ritualistic patterns the Dynamic freedom is found."

dmb says:
Yes, I definitely had that "kill all intellectual patterns" quote in mind, David. I'm saying that the quote about the freedom of the Zen monks tells us HOW to understand the quote about killing static patterns. you kill them through mastery and proficiency so that they become part of your nature, like the way we drive a car or ride a bike. You just have it down so well that it requires no deliberate thought. I wanted to make this point because some people (Marsha) interpret it to mean that freedom from static patterns can be achieved through sheer apathy. ("I'm not interested in the truth," she says.) I think that's just about the opposite of what Pirsig is actually saying. In fact, "care" is one of the crucial ingredients in becoming an artful mechanic or an artful thinker or an artful anything. It's that Marshan interpretation that I'm pushing back against when I say that rejecting static patterns as a prison, as something that ought to be "killed", is embracing chaos and degeneracy. 


So, I'm saying that "killing static quality intellectual patterns is valuable" IF you understand that Pirsig means making them part of your nature through mastery and NOT dismissing them as unreal or unimportant. "They don't tell him to shatter those static patterns to discover the unwritten Dharma, they want him to get those patterns perfect. ...you don't free yourself from static patterns by fighting them...  You free yourself from static patterns by putting them to sleep. That is you master them with such proficiency, that they become an unconscious part of your nature. THERE at the center of the most monotonous boredom of static ritualistic patterns, THE DYNAMIC FREEDOM IS FOUND." (LILA 385)

See, when I claimed that "real freedom or positive freedom entails mastery and proficiency," I just paraphrasing the quote. And I mention the artful motorcycle mechanic, the central metaphor of ZAMM, because Pirisg says the same thing in more concrete terms, wherein the artful mechanic has to know the tools and the machine. That kind of mastery and proficiency is what allow a creative solution. It's paradoxical - as opposed to being a mere contradiction, but Dynamic freedom is found right there in the center of all those static patterns. This is even more evidence in the case of the Poincare. His Dynamic insight was a result of being hip deep in math problems, the result being stuck in a giant pile of very elaborate and very rigid static patterns, and then BAM! The idea that static pattern are the enemy is just a really bad idea.